Shortly after senior Trump administration officials discussed and celebrated the bombing of Yemen in an encrypted group chat that, unbeknownst to them, included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, a subset of the group feasted at an opulent, secret dinner featuring the president where guests were asked to pay $1 million apiece to snag a seat.
The date was Saturday, March 15. President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate attending a “candlelight” dinner that wasn’t on his public calendar. On the lawn outside, luxury cars were on display: a Rolls Royce was parked near a Bugatti and Lamborghini. Guests milled about, taking photographs of each other and the vehicles. Earlier that day, the United States had bombed Yemen, targeting Houthi leadership. At least 53 people, including children, were killed.
Trump flew to the event on Air Force One with Elon Musk and Musk’s four year old son X, according to photos and videos viewed by WIRED. Throughout the weekend, Musk was in close contact with Trump and at least one member of the president’s brain trust who was participating in a Signal group chat where highly sensitive details of the planned operation were being shared. Experts say the conversation appears to have violated government protocols on information sharing.
The candlelight dinner attendees included national security advisor Michael Waltz and the White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, according to a source familiar with the events. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also present at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, according to a photograph from the following day viewed by WIRED and confirmed by a source familiar with the events.
Details of the Signal group fiasco emerged because in the days prior to the bombing, a handle with the name Michael Waltz had accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a chat, titled “Houthi PC small group.” (He likely meant to add US trade representative Jamieson Greer, who has the same initials.) In a bombshell story, The Atlantic reported on the off-books discussion of plans to bomb Yemen. Waltz, Rubio, and Miller all appeared to be in the Signal group and, according to message exchanges reported by Goldberg, were actively engaging with the chat ahead of the bombing. Some of the group members appeared only by their initials.
The day before the dinner, officials discussed whether they should proceed with the bombing, due to, among other things, the potential economic impact of the airstrike. The Atlantic reported that Vice president JD Vance, who also appeared to be in the Signal chat, told the group that he thought the airstrikes were a “mistake.”
According to the Atlantic’s reporting, Miller—who WIRED previously reported is referred to inside Trumpworld as “PM,” short for prime minister—effectively shut down Vance’s concern. “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light,” an account with Miller’s initials wrote in the chat, according to the Atlantic. On Saturday, at 1:48, the Waltz account and then others messaged the group. “Amazing job,” wrote Waltz. “A good start,” wrote an account with the name John Ratcliffe, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A person who went by “MAR” in the chat, identified by The Atlantic as likely “Marco Antonio Rubio,” wrote “Good Job Pete and your team!!” referring to Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense. Waltz replied afterwards: “The team in MAL did a great job too,” referring to the team positioned at Mar-a-Lago, which included Miller, Waltz, and Rubio. Trump’s team has long used the shorthand MAL to refer to Mar-a-Lago.
About 45 minutes later, Trump confirmed the Yemen bombings. “Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” he posted on Truth Social. “They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones….To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”
John Bolton, Trump’s fourth national security adviser from his first term, said on CNN that the entirety of the discussion about the military operation in Yemen “should’ve been discussed in the Situation Room,” either in a principles committee meeting or a full National Security Council one. “How can you conduct official government business over a non-official channel?” he asked. “Words fail me here. I cannot even imagine this happening.”
The Department of Defense specifically bars Signal as a means of transmitting non-public DoD information unless previously authorized. Under federal guidelines, security clearance and eligibility to hold a sensitive position can be revoked for negligent disclosure of protected information. In one case, the government sought to deny clearance to a contractor in part because he left a laptop containing sensitive information—it turned out to be an unclassified aircraft maintenance record and an unclassified email—in the “unsupervised custody of a Peruvian national.”
Under the Espionage Act, unauthorized disclosure of national defense information can be punished by a fine or imprisonment.
In 2017, reporters for Gizmodo and ProPublica demonstrated that Trump properties, including Mar-a-Lago, had weakly encrypted and open wifi networks, a misconfigured router and server, and other glaring security vulnerabilities. At the time, attackers could have taken control of devices connected to Trump networks, according to the publications. The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for a comment from WIRED; in 2017 it told Gizmodo and ProPublica that it adhered to “cybersecurity best practices.”
In 2023, Trump’s lawyers asked a federal judge to petition the Justice department to ”re-establish” a secure facility where sensitive matters could be discussed at Mar-a-Lago. Whether this has happened isn’t clear, but typically, an estate where the president spends a great deal of time would have a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, installed specifically so that the president and their advisers could discuss classified information securely, using government equipment.
Personally-owned electronic devices are not allowed in SCIFs; government- and contractor-owned ones are only under certain circumstances.
The handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago became the subject of a federal investigation when the President was out of office: in early 2022, the National Archives alerted the Department of Justice that there were classified documents in 15 boxes that had been left at Mar-a-Lago, which triggered a property search six months later. Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 counts related to his handling of classified materials upon leaving office before a federal judge dismissed the case in July of 2024.
WIRED previously reported on the dinner on March 15 and another “candlelight” dinner held on March 1 where guests were also invited to spend $1 million per person. That event appeared on the president’s public schedule with a note reading “the President attends the MAGA INC. Candlelight Finance Dinner.”
The White House did not answer questions from WIRED about the dinner, security issues or federal guidelines involved with the Signal chat, and whether Waltz or any of the other chat participants will face disciplinary action. A senior administration official told POLITICO on Monday afternoon that “they are involved in multiple text threads with other administration staffers on what to do with Waltz.”
“As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an email to WIRED, repeating her earlier statement from Monday afternoon on The Atlantic’s story.
WIRED has also reported that business leaders could secure a one-on-one meeting with Trump for $5 million at Mar-a-Lago. The $5 million meetings have become a “hot ticket” in the business community, a source familiar with them previously told WIRED.
